80 THE RELIGION OF THE CRESCENT.

sins are done away with through1 good works; and Muslims who do not trust to gaining a happy eternity in any other way, tell us that heartfelt2 repentance will save them. It would be unfair to regard their religion as inculcating a piety altogether external, therefore; yet the stress which it lays upon ceremonial observances, such as fasting,3 the pilgrimage4 to Mecca, the recitation of5 fixed prayers at stated hours, the proper mode of6 prostration, etc., tends to make the great mass of Muhammadans mere formalists.

In the whole Qur'an and in all the Traditions I do not knew of a single passage which teaches that prayer to be efficacious must be in spirit and in truth, nor that Man should or even could love GOD as well as fear Him. One of the most modern7 apologists for Muhammad in his thoughtful
1 E.g., Surah xi., v. 116[114]:
إِنَّ الْحَسَنَاتِ يُذْهِبْنَ السَّـيِّئَاتِ
2 "Rusum-i Hind," part ii., chap. ii., p. 263.
3 Surah ii. 179-183[183-187].
4 Surah ii., vv. 192-200[196-203]; Surah iii., v. 91[97]; Surah xxii., v. 27, sqq., &c. &c.
5 Surah xxix. 44[45]; Surah ii. 39[43]; Surah xvii. 8o[78]; &c. &c. Mishkat, "Kitabu's Salat," "Babu'1 Mawaqit," pp. 51, sqq.
6 Mishkat, ibid., "Babu'r Ruku'" and "Bab'us Sujud," pp. 74, sqq.
7 Bosworth Smith, "Mohammed and Mohammedanism," p. 199. This admission, coming as it does from one inclined to show all possible favour to Muhammadanism, is worthy of notice. Mr. Bosworth Smith's great mistake is that he evidently considers Sayyid Amir 'Ali, Sayyid Ahmad, and other Neo-Muhammadans as representing orthodox Muhammadanism.
THE WEAKNESS OF ISLAM. 81

work well says, "Muhammad's notion of GOD had never been that of a. great moral Being who

God not
 conceived
 of as a
 great
 Moral
 Being.

designs that the creatures He has created should from love and gratitude to Him, become one with Him, or even assimilated to Him." In Islam no distinction is felt between moral duties and the obligation to perform merely ceremonial1 observances, or if there be a distinction it is in favour of according more importance to what is ceremonial than to what is moral. One may be a very holy man, according to Muhammadan2 ideas, without being necessarily pure in deed or even in thought. This is well exemplified by the case of Muhammad himself, whose character for

Divorce between
 Religion and
Morality.

holiness and acceptableness with GOD was not at all inconsistent with the commission of murder and adultery. Nay rather, the Qur'an3 teaches us that in one or two matters the moral law was relaxed by GOD for Muhammad's benefit as a special privilege because of his being GOD's apostle and the sanctity attaching to that high office! Could

1 Hauri, "Der Islam," p. 50, well says: "Sittengebote und Ceremonialgebote sind darum auch auf eine Linie geruckt, und man fuhlt es ihnen an, das sie nicht aus einem lebendigen religiosen Grundgedanken herausgewachsen sondern aus einem altern Religionssystem heruber genommen und willkurlich geandert und vermehrt worden sind."
2 Ibid, p. 53.
3 See, e.g., Surah xxxiii., vv. 37, 38, and vv. 49-51[50-52].